ShakeDown

PVT ERICKSON SAYS:

Alright, there we were, getting it drilled into our heads that we were in this for good and that there was no turning back now.

We came straight off the cattle cars and since it was in the middle of January, into the Post Gym, carrying all of our gear and once again finding ourselves dodging the eyes of the very angry and very loud Drill Sergeants.

This was shake down, and I pitied the people who got there first off the cattle cars. We were placed in rows and told to stand in one position with our fingers outstretched and barely touching the person to either side of us, and we were made to stay in that position as everyone filed in. That's EVERYONE! And there were about three or four cattle cars and if I remember right, I was on the second or third. So I stood there, with myfingers outstretched for about 25 minutes trying to ignore the fact that my arms were starting to feel amazingly like puddy. And I stood, staring straight ahead, into the forehead of the private standing directly in front of me.

Shake down is a process in which we come into the unit and make sure that everyone has their initial issue and whatever else they will need. The process starts with giving everyone enough room to dump out all of their equipment in front of them (and that is ALL, to include personal belongings) The head drill sergeant then calls out each item one by one over the intercom and everyone scrambles to find whatever item he calls out. When he calls out five brown t-shirts (we're issued six, but of course, we're wearing one) we have to find all five brown t-shirts in a certain alloted amount of time. If not, well, we end up doing a lot of push-ups.

I got Blue Falconed in reception, so I was missing a pair of Gloves and a Black Knit hat. I thought I was going to get torn apart, but the Drill actually let me go on these items. In fact, the Drill that was in charge of my area during shake down was actually very mellow, or so I later learned. He was a mad Dawg Drill Sergeant (that's third platoon), and I think it was one of his last cycles. In other words, he couldn't wait to get the hell out of there.

Shake down, in a lot of aspects, was one of the hardest parts of Basic Training. It's still early in basic training and the idea that you are actually doing this is still seeping into your brain cells, your body is still very out of shape and you are just miserable. But it really wasn't that bad, as long as you didn't take it personally. That's probably some of the best advice you can recieve before going to Basic Training I can think of. Don't Take it Personally. The Drill Sergeants will even tell you that.

BTW- Blue Falcon is an Acronym, kind of Like FUBAR and SNAFU. BF, Buddy Screwer, with a stronger explecitive used synonymously with the word Screw. It basically means, your battle buddy screws you over. I left my wall locker unlocked for one night and an MP recruit stole my leather gloves and knit cap. I was a stickler for secured wall lockers ever since. And not just because the Drill Sergeants were sticklers for it too. Your battle buddies are not your friends. I didn't trust to many people in basic because of it. I got Blue Falconed quite a bit.

DS ERICKSON SAYS:

Reception and Intergration, otherwise known as Shakedown, is the initial introduction a private recieves into their Basic Training Unit. This is when they are introduced to their Drill Sergeants and the Command. The purpose of reception and integration is many.

One, to make sure that all soldiers have everything they need upon arriving to Basic Combat Training.

Two, to meet the Drill Sergeants that will be training them for the next nine weeks.

Three, to shock the living shit out of them.

Four, the soldiers you will have trouble with later in the cycle will undoubtedly make themselves known.

Drill Sergeants, if they have any stress built up within them for any reason, take this opportunity to let it all out. granted, there are some limitations as to what you can and cannot do, but if you are a dumb joe that can't keep your mouth shut, you bring it on you when the wrath of a drill sergeant befalls you.

At Shakedown, the drill sergeants don't know you, you are on a level playing field with everyone else, and your goal should be to sneak through without being detected. because believe me, if they pick you out here, the drill sergeants will have your name down for the rest of the cycle. And this is not a good thing.

Because to the drill sergeant, you are all nothing but the discharge from the bacteria that feeds off of pond scum. You are not seen as human, you are a private, you are dumb as a brick, and you have somehow decided to brave the trials that is part of the initiation process to becoming a soldier in the US Army. And the drill sergeants are going to make sure you have what it takes.